checkout is the old woman in the blue coat, and she calls triumphantly, “I took your advice! I’ve got her one of those traveling books. I think she’ll really like it!”
“Oh good,” I reply, handing my recipe book over to be scanned.
“It’s calledThe Rough Guide to India,” says the old woman, showing me the fat blue paperback. “Have you heard of it?”
“Oh,” I say. “Well, yes, but—‘
“That’s ￡24.99, please,” says the girl at my till.
What? I look at the girl in dismay. Twenty-five quid, just for recipes? Why couldn’t I have picked up some cheap paperback? Damn.Damn. Very reluctantly, I take out my credit card and hand it over. Shopping is one thing, being forced into purchases against your will is something else. I mean, I could have bought some nice underwear with that twenty-five quid.
On the other hand, I think as I walk away, that’s quite a lot of new points on my Club Card. The equivalent to . . . fifty pence! And now I’ll be able to make loads of delicious, exotic curries and save all that wasted takeaway money. Really, I’ve got to think of this book as an investment.
I don’t want to boast, but apart from that one purchase, I do incredibly well over the next couple of days. The only things I buy are a really nice chrome flask to take coffee into the office. (And some coffee beans and an electric grinder.) And some flow-ers and champagne for Suze’s birthday.
Subject: Standing at the next 
Sun Oct 30, 2011 11:18 pm